Thursday 29 August - Sunday 8 September Horsebridge Art Centre.

UNNAVIGATED

Discover groundbreaking contemporary art at the Whitstable Arts Festival in an exhibition which features thought provoking works that challenge tradition.

Emma Bennett, Othello De’Souza-Hartley, Zavier Ellis, Sadie Hennessey, Tim Shaw, Joanna Whittle

All of the artists in the exhibition move through uncharted territories, navigating history, landscape, folklore and a disenchanted popular culture which draw together into a dark undercurrent that pervades the exhibition. From Emma Bennett’s appropriated still life paintings, where smoke and fire drift across rich monochrome surfaces, to Othello De’Souza-Hartley’s intuitive mark-making that speaks of the history embedded in our bodies, we find ourselves transfixed in the reflected light of surface and paint.  Elsewhere, Tim Shaw’s ‘Mummers’ call upon customs and rituals that originated in an age when communities lived at the mercy of the seasons. Joanna Whittle’s intimate paintings of shrines and makeshift structures lure us into an enshrouding darkness. In contrast, Ellis’s large-scale contemporary history painting unravels revolution, resistance and sites of conflict, whilst Sadie Hennessy answers our distress call by throwing us a life ring which reads ‘We All Are Sunk’.

Curated by David Broder, with exhibition consultants Zavier Ellis and Joanna Whittle   

  • Emma Bennett

    Contemporary Painter

    Emma Bennett’s dark paintings combine elements of still life to explore themes of memory and the fleeting nature of experience. She exhibits widely, with her work being held globally in prominent collections and appearing in numerous publications. She was winner of the Solo Contemporary Artist Award at the British Art Fair in 2023.

  • Othello De'Souza-Hartley

    Mixed Media Artist

    Othello De’Souza-Hartley is a London-based mixed media artist exploring human expression through photography, drawing, and performance. His work addresses themes of gender and race, with a focus on male identity. Exhibited internationally, his art merges personal experience with social commentary, influenced by classical art, Eastern philosophy, and contemporary culture.

  • Zavier Ellis

    Artist and Initiator

    Zavier Ellis, born in Windsor, UK, is an international curator, artist, and originator of art-based initiatives. Made in response to deep research, Ellis deconstructs history and questions society’s conditioned responses, focusing especially on revolution, religion and repetition. Ellis has exhibited globally and is held in notable private collections.

  • Sadie Hennessy

    Multi-Disciplinary Artist

    Sadie Hennessy expands collage into immersive environments, blending performative elements and autobiographical stories. Her work, infused with dark humour, has been exhibited widely in London and beyond. Notably, she won the Jealous Graduate Art Prize and was a Screen Print Fellow at The Royal Academy.

  • Tim Shaw

    Sculptor

    Belfast born, Tim Shaw  works across a wide range of mediums including immersive installation, robotics, film and ritual performance. Themes of ritual and conflict reoccur. His work has been shown globally. Public commissions include The Rites of Dionysus, Eden Project. Last year, a large bronze entitled Man on Fire was permanently installed at Imperial War Museum North. Described in the media as the UK’s most horrifying sculpture, the work depicts a person engulfed by flames.

  • Joanna Whittle

    Contemporary Landscape Artist

    Joanna Whittle is landscape painter and member of Contemporary British Painting. She exhibits widely nationally and internationally with her work being held in many public and private collections. Her small scale paintings of shelters, gateways and forest shrines explore transience and ritual in the landscape through her rich and detailed surfaces.